7 interesting facts about Canadian author Margaret Atwood

If you are tired of the usual entertainment, whether it is soap operas or playing with the first deposit bonus in Canada casinos, here are some interesting facts about heralded Canadian author, Margaret Atwood which will definitely make you pick up her books and plunge into the magical world of the masterpieces of modern literature.

Margaret Atwood is best known for her dystopian novel The Handmaid’s Tale. The prolific six-time Booker Prize finalist (and two-time Booker Prize winner) has been translated into more than 20 languages, and many of her stories have been adapted for other mediums such as TV, theatre and radio. Atwood has been a published writer for more than 50 years, and in that time she has become a modern classic.

Here are 7 interesting facts about the Canadian novelist, poet and script writer that you may not know.

Didn’t Go to School Until She Was 12

Carl Edmund Atwood worked as an entomologist, so his young daughter Margaret had time to visit the most hidden corners of the Canadian North. While her father did his research and her mother did her housework, the three children had a chance to feel closer to nature and read something from Greek myths, Grimm Brothers tales, or Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe.

Due to the fact that the family was often on the road, Margaret until the age of 12 did not go to school. However, this did not prevent her from later obtaining a master’s degree from Harvard and becoming a famous writer.

Doesn’t Just Write Prose

In addition to a large number of novels and short stories, Margaret Atwood is the author of 15 collections of poetry, several television plays, and one libretto. The opera Pauline was staged in Vancouver in 2014 and was dedicated to the Canadian writer and actress Pauline Johnson, who died of breast cancer in 1913.

2017 saw the third and final issue of Angel Catbird, a comic book co-authored by Atwood and artist Johnny Christmas. The graphic novel is about the adventures of a hapless scientist who accidentally added some cat and owl genes to his DNA and became a superhero.

Among the scientific works of the famous novelist are studies, autobiographical essays, book reviews, essays on political and environmental topics. She has also tried her hand at literary criticism and journalism.

Is a Professional Photographer and Painter

In the ’70s, the writer was a political cartoonist for This Magazine and an editor at Anansi Press. In 1978 her first children’s book, Up In The Tree, was published with the author’s illustrations. Margaret often makes up the covers for her own works, is an excellent watercolorist, and occasionally takes original photographs. As the saying goes, a talented person is talented in everything.

The First Recipient of the Arthur C. Clarke Award

Margaret Atwood has over fifty prestigious literary awards to her credit. In 1987 she won the Arthur C. Clarke Prize for ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’. The writer herself does not consider herself a fantasy writer, but one could argue with that: she is also the author of the trilogy “Oryx and Crake” and the fantasy novel of one of the characters in “The Blind Assassin”, the text of which is almost entirely included in the main narrative.

Calls Herself a “Misguided Feminist”

Attempts by journalists to call the Canadian writer a feminist are met with just as much resistance. She has repeatedly claimed that she fights “for equality without labels,” and in one interview she said she actually calls “to listen to all women and take their words seriously,” but to be guided by facts rather than unsubstantiated statements. “Men have behaved badly for too long,” Atwood summed up her point. – But to believe all women? It doesn’t matter if the woman in front of you is a woman or not – you can’t take anyone’s word for it!”

Climate and Ecology Are More Important to Her Than Politics

Given Atwood’s considerable experience in community organizations, she’s not bad at politics. But environmental problems, including climate change and ocean pollution, weigh far more heavily on her mind. The writer urges everyone to save the ocean as soon as possible before the planet’s oxygen levels become catastrophically low. As the winner of the Booker Prize 2019, Atwood has already donated her prize money to charities specializing in saving endangered species.

Even in her earliest poems, the writer praised nature while condemning people’s commitment to material interests. And her trilogy “Oryx and Crake” paints pictures of the not-too-distant future of the Earth, brought by mankind to a terrible state.

Left Her Work for the “Library of the Future”

A few years ago, artist Kathy Paterson launched the “Library of the Future” project, in which contemporary writers donate one of their works each year. These texts are expected to remain unread until the year 2114. Margaret Atwood was among the first to join the initiative, donating her manuscript Scribbler Moon in May 2015.

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